A semiconductor power switch may be provided by a MOSFET or an IGBT which includes a large number of cell fields. In order to increase the power and increase the switching speed, two or more input connections to the semiconductor component and to the power switch within the component may be provided. As is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,534,878, this can be provided by two power path pins or leads in the component, each of which is connected to a single power electrode on the semiconductor chip by a bond wire. Since the current is now divided between two bond wires connected in parallel, the bond wire resistance is effectively reduced so that the load current can be increased.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,534,878 also describes a component in which the power connection between the semiconductor chip and conductor frame of a semiconductor power switch is optimized by providing a symmetrical arrangement of the input contacts on the power switch and a symmetrical arrangement of the bonding connections from the input contacts to the conductor frame. The symmetrical arrangement provides two input bond wires which are of a similar length. This further improves the current distribution between the input paths and further reduces the bond wire resistance.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,534,878 also discloses an arrangement by which the interfacial contact area between a bond wire and its contact electrode is increased, which effectively reduces the length of the bond wire and provides a reduced on-state DC resistance and higher loadability.
However, these components can be unreliable, as the current distribution between the bond wires varies due to variations in the lengths of the bond wires.